In September, at an event supporting DREAMers, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was interrupted by the shouting of a group that declared itself to be representing undocumented aliens. (Screen Capture)

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today attacked the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for arresting more than 150 illegal aliens in Northern California whom Pelosi described as “hard-working, law-abiding” and “patriotic.”

San Francisco, where Pelosi’s congressional district is located, is a “sanctuary city” that will not cooperate with the federal government in the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

“Since Sunday, ICE deportation officers have arrested more than 150 individuals who are in violation of federal U.S. immigration laws, working on leads developed by the local field office in conjunction with the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center (NCATC),” ICE said in a statement released Tuesday.

“About half of the individuals arrested also have criminal convictions in addition to their immigration violations, including convictions for assault/battery, crimes against children, weapons charges and DUI,” ICE said.

Pelosi described ICE’s enforcement of the immigration law in her region of the country as a “shocking abuse of law enforcement power.”

“The Trump Administration’s raids were a shocking abuse of law enforcement power,” she said in a statement released today. “Yet again, the White House has reached into our communities to indiscriminately detain scores of hard-working, law-abiding immigrants.”

Pelosi stressed the fact that only half of the illegal aliens who were arrested had already developed a “criminal record” in the United States.

“Fully half of those swept up in the ICE raids have no criminal record,” she said.

She then characterized the raid as act intended to “terrorize.”

“This raid was intended solely to terrorize innocent immigrant families and instill fear in the hearts of our communities--not to keep Americans safe,” she said. “Parents will now be torn from their children, and spouses ripped away from their loved ones.”

Pelosi concluded by describing ICE’s enforcement of the immigration law as “cowardly attacks,” and the illegal aliens as “patriotic immigrants.”

“The Administration continues to brazenly target the cities that refuse to bow to its blatantly bigoted anti-immigrant and mass deportation agenda,” she said. “The people of the San Francisco Bay Area will continue to oppose these cowardly attacks, and we will remain open to the patriotic immigrants who are the constant reinvigoration of America.”

ICE Deputy Director Thomas D. Homan criticized San Francisco and Oakland for protecting illegal aliens to the detriment of their own citizens.

“Sanctuary jurisdictions like San Francisco and Oakland shield dangerous criminal aliens from federal law enforcement at the expense of public safety,” Homan said.

“Because these jurisdictions prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, they also force ICE officers to make more arrests out in the community, which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public,” he said.

“The Oakland mayor’s decision to publicize her suspicions about ICE operations further increased that risk for my officers and alerted criminal aliens--making clear that this reckless decision was based on her political agenda with the very federal laws that ICE is sworn to uphold,” he said.

“Thanks to the dedicated and professional work of ICE deportation officers, we were able to remove many public safety threats from the streets of the Bay Area during the past few days,” Homan said. “However, 864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large in the community, and I have to believe that some of them were able to elude us thanks to the mayor’s irresponsible decision. Unlike the politicians who attempt to undermine ICE’s critical mission, our officers will continue to fulfill their sworn duty to protect public safety.”

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